1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to advertising and retail displays for pump dispensers for use with substrates such as paper towels, wipes, woven or nonwoven dishcloth, and sponges, and displays illustrating a method for using these pump dispensers to communicate to the consumer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Consumers have traditionally applied cleaning and disinfecting compositions by spraying on a surface and wiping with a paper towel or by adding a cleaner to a sponge, activating with water, wiping with the sponge, and rinsing the sponge. Although this procedure is inefficient because the consumer must go through several cleaning steps, consumers are accustomed to using these products and no special training is required to communicate how these products must be used.
There exist several retail packaging combinations that help convey product information for very familiar products. U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,846 to Underhill et al. discloses a method of displaying toilet training materials in an in-store kiosk. U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,864 to Ronn et al. discloses a sequence of designs of diapers that facilitates the consumer's selection of an appropriate absorbent article. U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,690 to Izen et al. discloses retail packaging for a musical instrument to facilitate trial of the instrument by the consumer. U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,716 to Chapman discloses a retail display that combines a mannequin face in a swimmer's mask that displays how the mask would be worn. U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,013 to Jackson discloses a package combination of a hat and garment. It may be even more important to convey such product information for unfamiliar products.
U.S. Pat. App. 2005/0009940 to Goldstein et al. discloses a method of promoting the sale of a melamine foam substrate by associating the substrate with a brand name or logo of a hard surface cleaner. The brand name is important because consumers are reluctant to try new cleaning means if the cleaning means differs from the currently known cleaning means. U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,405 to Irwin describes a fluid dispenser and a pop-up sheet dispenser providing convenience to the consumer while making it obvious for shoppers to quickly understand how to use the combined dispensing system.
Consumers are looking for cleaning means the will both save steps and can be used with one hand in an on-the-go manner. Current liquid dispensers are not adequate for one hand application of cleaning and disinfecting compositions to cleaning substrates such as paper towels. Dispensers such as trigger sprayers or pump dispensers generally require one hand to hold and activate the dispenser and one hand to hold the cleaning substrates. Existing vertical pump-up dispensers that can be ergonomically operated with the same hand that holds the cleaning substrate have small actuators that require the hand and substrate to be contracted into a ball in order to activate the dispenser. Wet disinfectant or cleaning wipes, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,805 to Sherry et al., are becoming increasingly popular for their convenience in combining a nonwoven, disposable substrate with a disinfecting or cleaning solution. Soap-loaded disposable dish cloths, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,869 to Suazon et al., are also popular for their convenience. These products combine the cleaning solution and the cleaning substrate in one system so that the consumer can perform the cleaning task with one hand and with one product. However, these systems have some drawbacks such as requiring water activation of a dry substrate or requiring a sealed packaging for a wet substrate.
The pump dispenser of the present invention is designed to overcome the inefficiencies of current consumer behavior. However, because the consumer is using the pump dispenser in a different, more convenient one-handed fashion, certain advertising and retail displays may be needed to teach the consumer how to use the product. We have found that packaging or advertising showing the substrate, such as a sponge sitting on top of the dispenser, along with a hand above the substrate, may be necessary for consumers to understand how to use this dispenser. Additionally, indicia showing that the consumer should press down on the substrate and the device may be required.
To overcome these problems of cleaning systems and cleaning products and to educate the consumer on the use of this new system, the advertising and retail displays of the present invention are designed to allow the consumer to understand how to use these product without having to read detailed instructions.